This invention relates to resuscitators, but more particularly to a breath powered resuscitator, which insures tidal inflation of fresh unbreathed air to conscious, semi-conscious and unconscious victims experiencing difficulty in breathing, at the normal breathing rate and volume of air of the operator.
At the present time, mouth to mouth resuscitators on the market are simply gadgets which are not even reliable for the resuscitation function they are suppose to perform. They are usually cheap in construction and are psychologically ill conceived. While some resuscitators on the market may be somewhat effective on non-breathing and unconscious victims, they are totally unsuitable for semi-conscious and conscious victims. They do not allow the victim under the face mask to inhale at any time he wishes. When a person can't exhale they are usually willing to wait a few seconds, but when they can't inhale, that's when they panic and start ripping off the resuscitator, hampering the resuscitation he so badly needs.
Furthermore, resuscitators on the market have no way of determining when the victim is exhaling and if so, how much air is being exhaled. The only way an operator can determine if the victim is exhaling air is by visually observing the movements of the victim's chest or by listening very carefully for some breathing.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,018,775 and 3,099,985 disclose mouth to mouth resuscitators which are forerunners of the present invention, both of which are more involved, requiring some type of sliding valve, and are relatively expensive to manufacture. Further, neither resuscitator provides means for synchronizing breathing between the operator and the victim, nor are there any visible means provided to monitor the victim's exhalations. While U.S. Pat. No. 3,099,985 does disclose a bypass valve, which allows the victim to breath directly when desired, this bypass is designed mostly to allow direct inhalation by a victim sharing an air tank while in toxic environments.